Threaded Pear LLC v. Jen & Co. LLC

What the order addressed

Threaded Pear LLC and Jen & Co. LLC, through counsel, jointly requested a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The court found good cause to issue a tailored order because discovery would involve confidential documents or information whose public disclosure could harm the producing person or a third party to whom a confidentiality duty was owed. The order concerns the pretrial phase of the case and does not decide the parties’ underlying claims or defenses.

Confidentiality levels and covered information

The order establishes two designations: “Confidential” and “Highly Confidential—Attorneys’ Eyes Only.” Confidential designations may cover limited information whose disclosure is restricted by law or would harm business, commercial, financial, or personal interests. Listed examples include previously undisclosed financial information, ownership or control information about a nonpublic company, business or marketing plans, product-development information, and personal or intimate information.

The order does not provide blanket protection for every discovery response or disclosure. It also does not itself entitle a party to file information under seal or decide whether any document, testimony, or other evidence will be admissible at trial.

Who may receive protected information

Confidential material may generally be disclosed to the parties, their insurers and insurance counsel, counsel and their litigation-support personnel, certain vendors, mediators or arbitrators, document authors and addressees, potential witnesses, experts or other specialized advisers, deposition stenographers, and the court and its personnel. Several categories of recipients must first receive the order and sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Highly Confidential—Attorneys’ Eyes Only material has narrower permitted disclosures. It may generally be shared with counsel and their assigned personnel, mediators or arbitrators, document authors and addressees, witnesses who testify at a trial, hearing, or deposition, experts or specialized advisers, deposition stenographers, and the court and its personnel. Other disclosure requires advance agreement by counsel for the producing party or a court order. Counsel may use this material to advise a client about this case, but may not reveal its contents without written agreement or a court order.

Challenges, court filings, and compelled disclosure

A party may object to a confidentiality designation or request additional disclosure limits before trial. If the parties cannot promptly resolve the dispute, they must bring it to the court under the judge’s individual rules.

The order states that confidential material is not automatically filed under seal. A party seeking to seal documents must file a letter-motion explaining the basis for sealing and must publicly file a redacted version while submitting the unredacted version under seal. The court retains discretion over confidential treatment and states that it is unlikely to seal or otherwise protect material introduced as evidence at trial.

The order also addresses material subject to third-party confidentiality obligations. The receiving party must notify the third party of a discovery request within five business days, and the information may be produced after 21 days if neither the third party nor the receiving party seeks court relief, subject to an appropriate confidentiality designation. Protected information may also be produced in response to lawful compulsory process or a legal requirement, but notice to the producing person is required as soon as reasonably possible and, if time permits, at least 10 days before disclosure.

Privilege, security, and end of the case

An inadvertent disclosure of attorney-client privileged or attorney-work-product material does not waive the protection under the order. After a claim of inadvertent disclosure, the receiving party generally must return or destroy the material within five business days and certify that action. The producing party must then provide a privilege log, and the receiving party may ask the court to order production; the producing party retains the burden of establishing privilege or protection.

Recipients must take precautions against unauthorized or accidental disclosure of protected information. Personally identifying information, such as Social Security numbers, financial-account numbers, and passwords, must be kept secure and confidential, and a recipient experiencing a data breach must immediately notify the producing person and cooperate in addressing it.

The order survives the end of the litigation. Within 30 days after final disposition, protected discovery materials and copies must be returned or destroyed, unless the producing person permits destruction or another arrangement stated in the order. Counsel specifically retained for the case may keep archival copies of specified case materials, but those copies remain subject to the order. The court retains jurisdiction to enforce the order and impose contempt sanctions for willful violations.